Reviews

reading what vwou just wrote in his/her review, I gotta say I disagree. The problem is not that they dont have enough servers. Everytime I go they have TONS of servers walking around. They just dont do anything productive. So the actual solution is to hire servers that actually works. When I eat there I always see the servers chatting with each other~ fooling around~ walking by but ignoring the customers...they need training real bad..or a supervisor...one time that i was there ~ there were only like 3 tables in the house~ and like 8 servers on duty~ and guess what they were doing? ALL OF THEM were gathered at a table eating~ none of them were on standby to serve any of us. And yes they were having alot of fun eating and chatting. They seem more like customers than servers.

Anyways the food is decent~ not awesome but not bad~ very average comparing to how much they charge you. Ambiance is pretty good tho~ washrooms are clean. In conclusion, I would go if I want korean food and too lazy to drive outside of richmond but I wouldnt necessarily recommend someone to go.

My bf and I just spent alot of money on fine dining the previous night but we were craving for sushi and it was late so we headed to aji taro for late nite AYCE cuz it was still open and relatively cheap. After taking the first bite on my salmon sushi i regretted my decision. Everything was literally groossss. The fish were not fresh at all. The rice for some reasons were DRY like it was leftover rice from yesterday. All i could taste from the agedashi tofu was powdery batter. The gyoza came soggy in a puddle of vinegar. If I was blind folded I wouldnt have known that the spicy salmon was salmon because all I could taste was something that was very spicy. Negitoro cone was not negitoro. It was negi-plain tuna with tiny traces of green onion. Chopped scallop was decent but clearly not too fresh. Fried calamari weirdly did not taste liek calamari...alot softer than expected...tasted like some sort of dough trying to mask as calamari. Short ribs were decent but too fatty. Unagi roll had microscopic pieces of unagi in them and lotsa rice. Oyster motoyaki was very "cute" cuz it was tiny~ had tons of filling but a tiny piece of oyster...and it was lukewarm at most. Miso soup, sunomono, tempura, california roll, dynamite roll and teriyaki chicken was decent. I guess I need not to clarify any further how disappointed I was. I don't like wasting food, but I found myself sitting at a table full of food half eaten and not wanting to put anything else in my mouth even tho I was still hungry. I felt like I wanted to throw up...

In terms of servce I guess it was decent. The manager promptly seated us and was quite polite. At some point during dinner when I was sitting at awe because I didnt know what to do with the food, she came by and asked if everything was ok. I said yes because I didn't want to tell her everything tasted awful. Other servers were bad tho...like they didn't want to be there. No smiles to be found.

Having read wonderful reviews about connor butler here, we decided to give it a try last saturday. It was late (~9pm) so I called ahead and was informed that they were more than happy to keep the place open until we came. Upon arriving, I felt that the restaurant was warm and calming. The place was small but tables were generously spaced.
Waiting at the entrance, a chef, who turned out to be Connor, saw us and brought us to our table and even pulled a chair for me to sit down. This was such a wonderful start, being treated like a queen by the head chef himself.
We decided on the foie gras parfait & the tuna as appys. My bf had pork tenderloin and added the seared foie gras. I had the Dry aged tenderloin. Ron (our server) suggested 2 bottles of wonderful reds to pair. WOW! I usually only order steaks at steakhouses cuz even the finest restaurants don't always get steaks right. But OMG! The meat was perfection and the sauce was so good I wanted to lick the plate! My bf wasn't wow-ed by the pork but it’s reasonable because he’s never had pork at western restaurants b4 and had nth to compare it with. I thought it was gd. He loved the foie gras tho! So good he wanted to cry! For desserts, we had the cheese platter and the blueberries. The blueberries was wonderful. Ron even whipped up a cocktail for me to pair with my dessert! My bf thought the cheese platter was good but not totally special.
I was most impressed by the service. It was by far the best fine dining experience Ive ever had! Throughout the nite I felt happy and spoiled! It was comfortable and never snobby! We're a very difficult couple to strike a conversation with and Ron made us think we were friends. He even took a pic for us with his cam when ours failed to function. I would have to say that Ron was the extra sth that made this night so much better than my other fine dining experiences.
It was pricy but was worth it. I’d rather come here once than have 2 dinners at other places. My new favorite!

I agree with krazer and have written my own review on this restaurant but it was deleted~ I felt I was being very fair so I have no idea why it was deleted~ connections? Generally I felt that the rolls were poorly made because most of them started falling apart when i pick them up (exept the one that was deep fried)~there were a wide variety of choices for rolls but I realized many of them were very similar~ difference were maybe wat was actually in the roll and wat was placed on top of it) the sashimi wasnt very fresh and was poorly presented (slopped on top of a leaf of lettuce...err) all the other dishes I ordered were quite average ~ and I found the "to die for" tuna tempura to be very bland and boring~ maybe i'm not a tuna person ( even tho i love toro sashimi the most? hmm) I guess its not food you would spit out but definitely not worth the price~

In terms of service~ it was ok~ not bad ~

ambience~ well the place was really dark~ and noisy~ it depends on what you're looking for~ it looks like a place i would go for a beer~I think the lighting helps make the food more edible~

I'm a picky eater so I'm definitely not impressed at all~ not authentic + expensive = not for me~ but if you weigh atmosphere over food quality than you might think differently

I would say that I'm a pretty picky eater. But this place really impressed me. I've been here twice. The first time was during dine out so it didnt wow me that much. But when I came here for the regular menu, I was very impressed. We ordered a few appetizers and me and my bf shared a porterhouse steak. The steak was INCREDIBLE! Ive never had a steak that was this juicy! I almost cried when i had my first bite! I was definitely satisfied! The appetizers were good as well but the portion was a bit small. Not unreasonable tho. The side dishes I ordered were huge! Onion rings were awesome. The wine my server auggested was very good. Service was great! She was very attentive and friendly. Ambiance was also great. I sat in the lounge. Good lighting, comfortable seats and live piano entertainment. All in all I was very happy to pay a few hundred bucks for this dinner. Worth every penny.

I agree with the previous reviewer that this place is definitely not that great. I've been there once and the huge sushi is kind of frightening. The fish is not fresh at all. The size ruins my appetite as well. I recall that I felt I needed to stop eating after finishing 2 pieces of sushi. This is definitely not quality authentic japanese food. If you prefer quantity over quality and authenticity~ than I guess you won't mind dining here~ but if you want good food~ You should probably stay away~ I dont think this even qualifies as the Mcdonalds of japanese food~ at least Mcdonalds were created by americans~ its still authentic~
and yes the fish on the sushi is huge as well (they arent solely filling u up with rice) but the fish is of low quality~ so its the same deal